Liverpool’s Roy Hodgson cautious after Blackburn win

Liverpool boss
Roy Hodgson ­believes he is finally getting the best out of his players but warned not to expect massive improvements.

As good as it gets: Hodgson believes his under-fire Liverpool team are finally starting to gel

The Reds ended a run of seven matches without a victory against Blackburn on Sunday, although the 2-1 win was not enough to lift them out of the bottom three.

However, Hodgson believes the performance has provided a much-needed confidence boost and saw signs his new team are finally starting to gel.‘I don’t think we can play a lot ­better than we did against Blackburn,’ said the under-fire manager.

‘With the team we have at the ­moment, if people expect us to really play a lot better football than we did for 70 minutes at the start of the Blackburn game they are going to be asking a lot.

‘We are still closer to the relegation zone than we are to the top of the ­table and if we get beat next week we are back to square one again.

‘We need to show a bit of humility and accept if we are not the Liverpool of yore we will try to become it.’

Hodgson hopes the club’s new ­owners will back him in the transfer window while he continues to try to get the best out of the squad he ­inherited from Rafael Benitez.

Asked whether he had under-estimated the job ahead of him when he moved from Fulham, Hodgson ­replied: ‘I came with my eyes open but I did come in knowing the ­expectations on us could be greater than what we are capable of achieving, immediately.’